William asked the Artifact Spirit a few more questions about his potential status as a Disciple.
"Now that you know about being Master's Disciple, I want to explain the rules of the next fifty trials since you have still managed to come so far." the Spirit turned its back to William and made a few hand signs, causing an Array to appear that William hadn't even noticed before.
He would have taken the time to inspect the Array, but barely a moment passed before it disappeared again, replaced by a floating golden orb of unknown origin. William had no idea what he was looking at, so he asked the Artifact Spirit.
"This is one of Master's finest experiments, still in its testing phase. It will be the source of the last fifty trials."
"It simulates the abilities of the other Disciple candidates. All you need to do is survive five minutes and you can move to the next floor. Kill the simulated Disciple and you will skip five floors. Of course, if you choose to fight past five minutes and win, your reward will be slightly increased."
Sounds easy enough. This might be very good for me. William thought.
He nodded, signaling the Artifact Spirit to start the trials immediately. The Artifact Spirit disappeared, while the golden orb shapeshifted into a somewhat familiar man wearing a taut face, showing little emotion other than a soul-piercing gaze.
Is that...? William wondered. He wasn't entirely sure if his guess was correct, until the simulated man spoke, his rough voice the exact same as William remembered. Follow current novᴇls on novel⟡fire.net
"My name is Gu Dianlong. I will be your opponent."
Outside the Gravitas Ruins, inside the Five Elements Sect.
Sect Master Gu Dianlong was seated at a desk, filling out some paperwork, when he sensed a slight tug at his soul. He recognized the feeling instantly, although it had been many years since he had entered that place.
A small smile crept on his face, "So he's already close to the top...He's much more talented than I thought."
A black-cloaked man standing nearby spoke up, "What is it, Gu Dianlong?"
If William were here, he would have recognized this to be the same man that applied the Enslavement Array to his shoulder. The man looked somewhat concerned at Gu Dianlong's smile, wondering if something had gone wrong with his puppet.
"Oh, nothing much. That William is about to clear the impossible trial." Gu Dianlong said as his smile widened.
The cloaked man sighed in relief, but in the next moment his eyes became wide as he realized the implications of such an event.
"I will go report this. Open a portal for me, then do what you normally do until I get back."
The Sect Master nodded emotionlessly. He opened the portal as instructed, then returned to his work without a second thought. The masked man passed through the portal, which led him to an underground complex teeming with figures wearing cloaks of different colors, separated by the regions they operated in.
The man entered a corridor, then hurried down a set of winding stairs until he had reached the bottom of the complex where a ten-meter-tall set of double doors awaited him. He knocked twice on a wooden part of the metal doors, then waited half an hour before someone responded.
The doors swung wide, revealing a group of nine masked men wearing cloaks of different colors. From left to right, the men wore cloaks of red, orange, yellow, green, black, white, blue, purple, and brown.
The man in the center wearing the black cloak wasn't wearing a mask at the moment, revealing a middle-aged man with many wrinkles around his eyes and a thick pair of eyebrows that were almost connected. His gaze was fierce, but the cloaked man that had just entered the room wasn't scared, rather displayed a pious loyalty.
"What is it? We are very busy today." the orange-cloaked masked man spoke.
"I'm here to give an urgent report to Master Black, Senior Orange." the man was used to addressing these masked figures as such, since they didn't reveal their names to their subordinates, even to him who was a high-level leader in charge of overseeing the Five Elements Sect.
The men turned their heads towards the black-cloaked individual in the center, whose eyes rose slightly as he had already guessed the reason for his subordinate's visit.
"How is the Gravitas Ruins matter coming along?" he asked, attracting the attention of the others in the room. Who wouldn't be interested in news that came from this ridiculous training ground?
"As expected of Master Black, this is what I was here to report."
"Someone is close to clearing the Trial Tower in the center of the Labyrinth of Tears."
The red-cloaked man's eyes widened in shock. "Already? The first floor hadn't even been cleared yet last month. How can someone clear so many trials in succession already?"
"I'm not sure, but there is still almost a month for them to remain inside. Gu Dianlong's past self has been summoned, which means the Challenger is on the 151st floor right now. There is a small chance that he will clear the entire tower before the end of the month."
Master Black waved his hand to the side, "Do we know which Disciple it is? Is there anyone we can communicate with that is inside the Ruins right now?"
The man shook his head.
"In that case, who are the most likely suspects?" he turned to face the other masked men next to him. He looked to the red-cloaked man first, "Region leaders, name your strongest representative, and anyone else of interest."
"Eastern Region. No representatives."
"Southern Region. One representative, Jack. He was ordered to clear the hidden Trial under the lake and a few others nearby. His mark was removed a few days ago."
"Northwestern Region. No representatives."
"Northeastern Region. No Representatives."
The black cloaked man spoke for himself, "Western Region. Four representatives. William, Glen, Laius, and Petra. William was ordered to clear the impossible trial, it might be him."
The others were surprised at the leader's ability, "As expected of you, Master Black. You've managed to sneak four into the Ruins."
The black cloaked man didn't respond, instead waving for the others to continue.
"Providence Zone. Two representatives, Tilius and Farbet. One person of interest, Fria. The two subordinates were ordered to tail Fria, who seems to be immune to even our strongest mark. Her soul strength is formidable, and her talent with the greatsword is immense."
"Ocean Zone 1. No representatives."
"Ocean Zone 2. No representatives."
"Ocean Zone 3. No representatives."
The last three were mostly a formality, since they didn't have many subordinates in those regions as it was. Their group specialized in contracting powerful creatures that lived in the ocean.
Master Black nodded once the rest were finished. He looked at his subordinate, who was listening during the entire exchange. "You have what you need now, yes?"
"In that case, I want you to communicate with Glen. If the challenger is one of our own, bring him back after he exits the Gravitas Ruins. If they aren't...you know what to do."
"Understood. I won't let you down." the subordinate left the room on the black-cloaked Master's order, rushing up the stairs and entering the portal that was still open for him.